THE CRANKY OLD MAN
Random thoughts and stuff from a cranky old man. Humor (maybe)and satire, mostly stuff from a confused head.
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Saturday, April 11, 2015

LET THEM MAKE CAKE

LET THEM MAKE CAKE

A cranky opinion for

CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY

The following is the opinion of a
cranky old man with little knowledge of the subject opined.Opposing opinions are welcome, but will
probably be ignored, and please as always, no name calling, and that means you,
you big stupid-head!

So the
latest hoo-ha is over the rights or non-rights of business establishments to
deny service to certain people or groups.Specifically I have read about a bakery being brought to its knees by
law and public pressure for not making a cake for a gay wedding.More recently a pizza parlor is being driven
out of business after they told a news reporter they would not cater a gay
wedding.Both establishments claimed
religious reasons for not providing service.

OK, first
let me state that personally I have no issue with gay marriage. If I did feel
gay marriage was against the teachings of my religion, I would not consider my providing
a service as corrupting my beliefs. I don’t see what someone else believes, in
this instance, interferes with my beliefs.Hey, you want a cake?You want
pizza?That is what I do, you’ve got it.

However, if
someone else feels very strongly about not being any part of gay marriage, do
they have to participate?

If I am a
baker and someone orders a pornographic cake, or something related to
pedophilia, or a cake that supports hunting, or smoking, or snorting cocaine,
or anything, do I have to comply?I
know, that is in the extreme, how do I relate gay marriage to a subject like snorting
cocaine?I don’t, but it is possible
that someone might.Doesn’t have to be a
popular view, or a correct view, or a rational view, but is a baker not
entitled to turn down a request that he finds totally repugnant and against all
that he believes?

Well, you
say, should a black person not be able to order a cake from an KKK card
carrying bigot baker?Can a pizza parlor
decide not to serve patrons who have freckles? They should not, but why do we
have to make a major issue out of it?Why
do we have to get legislation involved.

I believe in
both these cases people were just looking for a fight.Both establishments were Christian
establishments that made their beliefs very well known.Not all Christians, by the way, are against
gay marriage, but these establishments held a religious belief that gay
marriage is wrong.

Why does a
gay couple want to have a wedding cake made by a baker who is anti-gay
marriage?I would not want someone who I
felt might hate me to make any food for me against his wishes.

I suppose
that If I was told I could not order a cake because of a bakers bias, I would be
upset and angry.I believe my reaction
would be to tell him to do something unnatural to himself and I would not want him
to have anything to do with my wedding.I would probably tell all my likeminded friends to not buy as much as a
doughnut from these idiots.

The pizza
parlor situation is even more trumped up.In this case a reporter went to the restaurant and specifically asked if
they would cater a gay wedding.The
reporter clearly knew their beliefs and was looking to stir some shit.Stir they did.

This whole
premise is silly.Who orders pizza to
cater a wedding?If you do, who tells
the restaurant why they want pizza?When
I order pizza I just call and request a specific pie for a specific
address.No one calls and says,

“I’d like to order some pies, two
plain, two pepperoni, and one sausage and mushroom for delivery to 15 Main
Street.Oh, and the pies are for my gay
wedding.”

And has
anyone ever heard of catering a wedding with pizza?A GAY
WEDDING?

Should I be
allowed to call a florist and order a “NoMoHomo” bouquet? I would expect the
florist to tell me where to go for my bouquet.

The
difference is obvious.It is wrong to
order a NoMoHomo bouquet. It is just not obvious to all people, and legislating
“right thinking” gets tricky.

Look I get
it.Gay people are often unfairly
discriminated against.It is wrong. People should not be able to hide their
prejudice behind a veil of “Religious Conviction.”If they can, then we are opening a big can of
worms.(Shria Law anyone?)

I just think
people should pick their battles carefully. If another baker will make your cake, just go to the other baker and leave the bigot alone. If there is no other baker, then it is appropriate to raze a ruckus and amend behavior through social pressure.

If a bear is
in the road blocking your way, blow your horn, or go around him; but if you see a
bear asleep in the woods, don’t get out of your car and poke him in the butt!*

The preceding was the opinion of a
cranky old man, and not necessarily that of management…Mrs. Cranky.

*I’m not
sure what that means either…sounded good to me when I wrote it.

22 comments:

I can choose what business I give my business to. I think a business can choose what business they decide to take. Hubby, being a professional musician has decided that he will not do weddings any more because what people might decide to do if he should not be available to do their wedding for any reason regardless of beliefs or maybe he's just not available that day.

It would seem you are not alone in your view(s). As of two days ago, the pizza place has received over 800,000 dollars in 'contributions', well more than they could have made in the same time period. T'would seem bigotry pays well.

My view is I don't like seeing a little shop bullied for their views which were not really hurting anyone whether or not you agree with their view (which I do not) and in fact were bullied with a silly scenario to force them to voice their view. I am going to assume that your comment was not intended to label me as a bigot...my pizzeria will happily cater a gay wedding.

I would hope those contributions are in favor of free speech and not in favor of anti-gay sentiment, though sadly they are probably more on the side of anti-gay then pro-free speech.

I think we're in a fight right now for equality when it comes to gay rights. And public opinion is largely in favor of gay marriage. So the problem for a business owner is that by refusing to serve a customer of any type, you risk offending that customer. If the public finds out you refused to serve a cake promoting pornography, the public is probably going to agree with you. However, if the public learns you refused to make a cake for a gay wedding, the public is largely going to align against you. Which will cost you business--and that's not a good idea at all if you want to stay in business... The bakery (from what I understand) chose to shut its doors, saying it was for other reasons... For my business (which is just a freelance writing business with one worker!), I prefer to do what is best to build, grow, and maintain my business. I wouldn't compromise my values, but I also wouldn't take a public stand against something the vast majority of the public is against...that's just bad for reputation.

What a mess. Reminds me of the time - years ago - when a regional grocery store considered opening on Sunday for the first time. Staunch Christian citizens of that nearby suburb were so opposed to God's law being abused that numerous death threats against the owners were issued. Hmmm. Not sure how this fits in with your post but since the current issue is such a convoluted mess, maybe there's a place for it somewhere!

If someone won't serve me, for whatever reason, i will boycott them and tell others. They are entitled to their view against me, and i'm entitled to vote with my dollars and go elsewhere, and spread it far and wide so others can choose to do the same.

Yup. The pizza-parlor thing was a total phishing expedition; go to somebody who you know what they think, and get them to say it, so you can hold them up to public mockery (or worse; nothing says 'tolerance' like "let's go burn down the Christian pizza parlor").

And the flower-lady in Washington had been doing business for 20 years with the guys who sued her. They knew what she thought, and they knew what her answer would be. . .

And no, I don't know either why someone would want to buy cake/flowers/photos from someone whose head/heart really wasn't into your wedding. I mean, if I was black, I sure as hell wouldn't want to make a big stink about forcing the KKK baker to make me a cake. Just sayin'. . .

I don't understand why these supposedly religious people went into business serving people when their Christian beliefs tell them homosexuality is a sin. Gluttony is a sin...will they refuse service to a fat, gluttonous person? Divorce is a sin, will they refuse service to a divorced person? As a matter of fact, we are all sinners - they wouldn't be able to serve anybody.

As I said, I don't understand why they went into business serving people. It's like a pacifist joining the Army, saying he wouldn't be able to kill an enemy in combat.

To be clear. . . she didn't say she wouldn't serve homosexuals, only that she wouldn't be comfortable catering a gay wedding, which seems a significant enough distinction. . .

Because catering a wedding involves a degree of 'participation' that simply making someone a pizza doesn't. At least in her mind. . . (again, assuming that anyone would ever actually ask a pizza parlor to cater their wedding, which goes back to the phishing thing. . .)

To tell someone you won't serve them cause they are gay is just assbackword stupid!!!!!!!!! Who the hell says that, a florist in Washington state got a big wake up call, no service to gays, she got a big big fine, but to tell you how she fared the biggest newspaper in the state of Washington printed how much a crowdfund for her establishment is hitting half a million dollars, really when many in this state are unemployed, hungry and losing their homes, who the hell gives to this woman, the jeweler who sold wedding rings to two gay men got a big kick in the ass he got a big fine and told to fix the rings or else, the jeweler across the street fixed the rings, needed sizing and got a ton of business the other yahoo shuttered his place of business..I say you can think one thing but never open your mouth, this is a free country as I see it and many businesses in Vancouver Washington are delighted that the state enacted same sex marriages and have business now that has happened, why can't business owners get it business is truly business, keep your opinions to yourself..Oh, they opened a chick-fi-la up in Bellevue, one place I won't be going to they are so anti this and that I don't think I could keep my mouth shut..People don't get it in business, they are there to attend to customers not make enemies of the public..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I am 70 years old, I have 4 children 45,42,40 and 18;and 5 grandchildren 13-6
. Divorced twice, married three times. I worked on Wall Street for 40 years after graduating from Lafayette College in 1968. I have turned to writing as since retirement I needed something to tell people "What the F*** I do." Published one book "Maybe It's Just Me!" available at Amazon, soon to release my second, "I Used To Be Stupid."
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